The Art of Patience
by PfenixB
Summary: How the important people...whoops, forgot Lazard...get themselves through ShinRa meetings, especially the ones that involve reports from Genesis. Hints of AngealxGenesis, OOC Seph -or maybe not- and poking fun at Pres. S. and Tseng. Well, just read, yeah?


So, you know there is officially something wrong with you when you're listening to Elvis and find yourself thinking, "This is what Sephiroth singing would sound like", which is probably not true, but I thought it anyway. This has been floating around since then…two whole days, wow… and took me all of two hours to actually write. I'm posting almost immediately after, so don't expect perfection. I don't.

Genesis is probably OOC, but this is now my official characterization of him, if that makes any sense. By that I mean that every time I write Genesis, he ends up like this. Oh well.

I think I did alright with everyone else, but you tell me! You're the reviewers!

Okay…**not** a songfic. Don't own any songs used of any FF characters. Also don't own Elvis Presley.

This is probably one of the dumbest things you'll ever read, and I'm aware of that. I had to write it, though, if I wanted to sleep tonight, so criticize away.

* * *

Sephiroth was heading to yet another meeting of the department heads and such. He didn't particularly enjoy those, but he did believe that they were necessary. That was the only reason he tolerated being summoned to them. Well, that and the fact that he was pretty much in charge without really having to pay attention. Nod and smile at the right times, suggest the ideas he'd been keeping in his head to start conversation amongst the other guys, conversation he wouldn't have to take part in, and everything would work out fine.

He had one hand on the door, locking the third lock, when he remembered a rather important bit of information- Genesis was to give a brief lecture on the war effort in Wutai.

Sephiroth unlocked the door and darted back in for his iPod.

* * *

Zack was the last to arrive. He smiled sheepishly as he walked in, hoping he wasn't actually late. Though he wasn't First Class yet, he was trusted enough to be involved in this meeting. He didn't want to make a bad impression.

Glancing around the room, he saw that the only available seat was between Sephiroth and Tseng. He took it quietly, suppressing a grin as he saw that Sephiroth was holding his iPod and trying to surreptitiously slip the earbuds into his ears.

Zack had 'borrowed' Seph's iPod a time or two, and he knew that the songs always played in the same order- Seph was just OCD like that. No shuffling for the general.

He wondered how long the meeting would last, and if it would be long enough to get to some of later songs on the player, the ones Sephiroth could not resist singing when he heard them.

* * *

As the meeting progressed, everyone in the room was thinking something rather different.

Sephiroth was pleased to find that it was moving along splendidly, as President Shinra put it. This was, of course, before Genesis was given the spotlight.

Zack, however, was getting bored. He had seen Sephiroth mouth a few lines, so he knew it hadn't really been that long. To his puppy-like attention span, though, it felt like _forever._ He figured Angeal was making him sit through this to teach him about responsibility or patience or something.

Tseng, calm being he is, was blessed with endless patience, and had nothing to learn from this. Rather, he was blessed with the ability to sleep with his eyes open and seem alert. He saw no reason to do anything else- after all, he was only here because the President had required Rufus to appear, and Rufus had demanded that at least one Turk go with him. Tseng figured he just liked the attention.

Rufus was watching Tseng doze lightly next to him. Okay, so he had wanted Reno to come, but the President had decided that Reno was too new to the organization, and too distracting overall, to be allowed at such a serious gathering. Too bad; Reno was fun. He would've been texting Rufus under the table or mocking the President while his back was turned. Tseng was just _sleeping._ How boring. The best part was that Rufus knew Tseng thought no one could tell he was sleeping. He had to hold back a snort. Surely no one was stupid enough to fall for that trick.

President Shinra was congratulating himself on his choice. Reno was closer to Rufus' age, but frankly the President sometimes worried that the redhead was a bad influence on his son. Tseng, however, knew exactly how to behave. Here he was, paying closer attention to the goings-on in the room than anyone else -except Sephiroth, of course. Those SOLDIERs…great for killing things, sure, but sitting still did not seem to be a strong point for any of them.

Genesis was totally unaware of what was happening. He was waiting for his cue, and otherwise was concerned with only two things: one- how to best get Angeal's attention, and two- how to work Loveless into his presentation so that it was relevant.

Angeal was feeling rather hypocritical. He had indeed requested that Zack attend the meeting in hopes of teaching him the power of patience, but he was feeling pretty fed up himself. He only hoped Genesis would be struck with sudden laryngitis.

Finally, the president turned the hypothetical microphone over to Genesis, who nearly squealed with excitement, just for effect. But…he didn't want Angeal to think he was being overdramatic, so he stifled the fake squeal.

Tseng let out a snore so low that only Rufus could hear it. Sephiroth would have, but he was very absorbed in his music, and couldn't be bothered right now, because, as Zack could see, it was just getting good.

Rufus started laughing behind his hand at Tseng, who had been woken by his own snore. The President turned sharply, but saw nothing other than Rufus "coughing" into his hand and Tseng looking concerned. He turned his attention back to Genesis, whose attention was on Angeal and Angeal only.

"…and as we all know, the…"

Angeal was trying not to be distracted, really, he was! But Genesis was walking, and waving his hands around, and he smelled like Banora. Dumbapples? Maybe. All he knew was that the scent coming from Genesis reminded him of home, of the time when he and Genesis…

-_Don't think about that…it's not appropriate to think about in a meeting! Set an example for Zack! Pay attention!-_

Zack was starting to fidget. He was hoping now, not that Genesis would hurry up, but that he would talk through one of two more songs. It would really make Zack's day if Sephiroth burst into song in the middle of a meeting. And let's face it, his day really needed making! He was dragged to this meeting at 3am by Angeal after about two hours of sleep (also Angeal's fault- Zack was staying in Angeal's living room and Genesis had come to "visit"), now he was sitting here, supposed to be learning patience but learning nothing except the extent to which Genesis had Angeal _whipped, _not to mention his butt was now falling asleep, but that was something he could deal with. The images currently flooding his head- not so much. He couldn't wait to get back into his own room. Reno had flooded it when he tried to dump all the evidence of his most recent raid of the kitchens (why exactly he'd decided to use Zack's room was beyond Zack). He just wanted to get some sleep without having to worry about waking up to a naked Genesis clinging to Angeal (which had also happened this fine, fine morning).

President Shinra was blissfully oblivious to the thoughts of these men, his most trusted and valued "friends". He was listening to Genesis' speech, understanding little of it but listening nonetheless.

Sephiroth had forgotten he was in the meeting. Here it was- his favorite set of tracks. He placed these at the end as a sort of reward. See, it wasn't often he had ample amounts of free time. He knew he was distracted by these songs above others, and he reasoned that if they were at the beginning, he wouldn't be able to put down the iPod to attend to important issues. If he made it an hour and a half into his playlist (not a very long playlist -he doesn't really have all that much time for music), chances were that the world would last without him for another twenty minutes. This was as far as his sense of indulgence took him.

Zack sat up straight as he recognized the words forming on Sephiroth's lips. They formed the last line of the song that came before…

"_Well since my baby left me-"_

Four heads turned to stare at Sephiroth. His eyes were closed and his companions were utterly silent, so he made it through another few lines before he noticed he was singing aloud.

"_I found a new place to dwell-"_

President Shinra was still somehow unaware of what was going on. Not until Rufus started giggling madly and Genesis nearly fell, clutching at Angeal to keep from hitting the ground, did he grasp the situation.

"_It's down at the end of Lonely street at-"_

"_Heartbreak Hotel_," Zack chimed in, his off-key voice prompting Sephiroth to open his eyes. He took a quick glance around the room and saw that everyone was laughing- except the President.

Pres. Shinra laid his head in his hands. Years and years of honing skills and perfecting genes, years and years of believing that Sephiroth was _perfect_, and now this. He banged his head on the desk a few times, to the general amusement of all, including Sephiroth, who had gotten over his embarrassment rather quickly.

The increased laughter drew a pained sort of groan from the President. Worst of all was that Rufus, his own _son_, was laughing at him, with those…those…misfits. That's what they were, after all. They were changed, corrupted, but no, they were not perfect. And Rufus would never be one of them. He would never laugh with them again, no, not at him. President Shinra was going to make sure of that.

"Rufus, Tseng, we're going."

"But, father…" complained Rufus, tears now streaming down his face in his intense laughter.

"No buts. Come on."

Tseng stood first, attempting to act as a brace for Rufus, who would no doubt sway on his feet when he stood, but it was virtually pointless, as Tseng was rather wobbly himself.

When the three of them finally left, Sephiroth went back to singing, Genesis went back to flirting with Angeal, Angeal went back to repressing memories –after all, the meeting hadn't been officially adjourned- and Zack went back to sleep.

That sleep lasted all of five minutes before "Out! Get out! All of you!"

Zack stood up and left, hoping that he could beat Angeal and Genesis to Angeal's apartment. The second he was in the hall, he started running. There were still two hours before he technically had to wake up. He planned to sleep through them.

Angeal left behind Zack, knowing perfectly well that Genesis would be following him closely, not that he minded very much.

Sephiroth left last, locking the door behind him and reminding himself to learn a better way of blocking out Genesis' rambling. Maybe he'd get Tseng to teach him that sleeping-thing, not that it was very believable. Still, he reasoned, one learns better through the subconscious; surely the President wouldn't argue with an attempt to learn more. Yes, that was exactly what he would do. But first…

"_Are you lonesome tonight?_

_Do you miss me tonight?_

_Are you sorry we drifted apart?"_

* * *

Am I the only one amused by this? Probably. Oh well. It's done! I like it, as of now! Hope you do, too! Review, if you don't mind. Won't promise cookies or anything, but I'll reply!  
Thanks for reading  
-PfenixB


End file.
